Reign Storm
by NorseGirl23
Summary: The world was saved, and life should be normal. Strange things begin to happen around the world. He took a break from the Team, taking time to deal the loss, and he was caught up in the middle of the strange events. She thought she had a normal life, but her whole world gets shaken. It becomes a race against time as they find the one thing to save the world again.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Grief hung in the air, but it should have been a time of celebration. They saved the world from an alien invasion and eventual destruction, and some of their mentors cleared their names after a devastating attack few years before. They stopped the Light, but there was grief. They lost one of their number during the desperate quest to stop the destruction from happening. Kid Flash, Wally West, just vanished. They could not even find his body. All they had was his memorial and his parents an empty coffin.

That was why he needed to take a leave of absence from the Team. It was started with Dick, Kaldur, and Wally, and he really needed to come to terms with his actions during the Reach invasion.

Dick thought that Wally's death was his fault. He was the one who pulled both Artemis and Wally out of retirement for his plan to work. The failed mental exercise from almost five years ago began to haunt him again. Like then, he led his friend to his death, and that kind of guilt would be hard to overcome. It was hard to forgive himself.

He could hear Kaldur and Barbara handing out mission assignments. He could not help but smile to himself.

"Business as usual."

That was how Dick went back to focusing on his studies back at Bludhaven. He would patrol the city like he did Gotham City during his younger years, and that would be the only appearance of Nightwing. It was not the same as working with the Team, but it was enough.

* * *

_"A strange object fell from the sky past the Thames River in London at around 7:07 AM this morning,"_ a reporter said.

There was the strange object sitting behind her with different scientists studying it. The stone was large and black, and there was a sword in it.

"You have got to be kidding me," Dick said to himself.

People in the crowd were struggling to get near the strange object. Apparently the temptation to go over to pull the sword was too strong for some people to ignore. People kept referring to it as King Arthur's sword and speculating how legitimate the rule of Britain's current royal family was. He switched off the news and left his apartment.

Dick went to the stairs, and his neighbor, a mysterious young woman, was walking up. She smiled at him in greeting, but she never said anything. That was when the Total Tremor hit. The two of them stumbled and fell down the stairs during the short period of time that the Total Tremor shook their world.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Um. . .bloody nose?" She answered, pinching her nose and leaning forward a little bit. "You?"

"I might have hit my head," he admitted.

Dick helped her to her feet, and he could hear the chaos and damage done by what would become known as the Total Tremor. Oddly enough, his cell phone

"I'm fine, Bruce," Dick said to the worried man on the other end. The two of them had been through so much over their years of crime fighting, but old habits die hard.

_"That tremor hit the whole world,"_ the man who took care of him said when he knew that Dick was safe. _"The Team and the League are busy with rescue efforts. You should check into what's happening."_

They were escorted out of the building, and Dick could feel someone watching them. He discreetly turned in that direction, and found someone wearing a sweatshirt and sunglasses and having a dark scarf wrapped around his face.

The young woman checked her nose for more blood. "What's with that?" She also noticed the stranger watching the two of them.

"I don't know," he said. He protectively grabbed her arm. "We need to go."

They walked away from their building, and the stranger followed them. The stranger would walk quickly to catch up with them and pulled out a metal object.

"Hand her over," the stranger hissed, pointing the ugly looking knife at Dick. "And I can assure you that your death will be short."

The young woman picked up a broken piece of metal and held it like a sword. "Get behind me."

"I don't think -" Dick was pulled behind her.

The stranger attacked, but she was able to hold him back, even though he was bigger than she was. She was quick in her attacks, and she used his size and slowness to her advantage, tripping him up. They chose to run at that moment, and the stranger scrambled to his feet, feeling around for his knife. The same knife Dick picked up before they ran off.

"You know where you're going?" He asked her.

"My uncle lives near here," she answered. "He usually deals with stuff like this."

"How many times were you nearly kidnapped?"

"Not as many as you, Richard Greyson," she said with a smirk.

"Funny," he said. "Very funny."

An older man leaning heavily on a cane, and when he saw the stranger, he pulled himself to his full height. The stranger stopped running and slid to the ground.

"Go back to your mistress," the old man said in a strong voice compelling the stranger to disappear. "Elaine, you should have waited for me to get you."

"Sorry, Uncle, but he was watching us the whole time," the woman known as Elaine replied.

"We don't have much time," the man muttered to himself. "We need to go. Now!"

"Where?" Dick asked.

"Where else?" He answered. "London. That is where our solution lies."

* * *

The dread ruler of Apokolips known as Darkseid watched his people toil in created the weapons his great warriors needed in their conquest. He could faintly hear his new found allies arguing with each other, but he paid them no heed. The news that one in their number had given him was troubling.

The weapon had appeared which could only mean that its owner was walking the earth and of an age who would be able to use it.

"He died before having any children," one of his allies commented. "Perhaps it is for you."

"That is pure nonsense," Darkseid said, not even bothering to look at his ally. "He died before siring a son, but he did have one daughter who was hidden away after her birth. That cursed Pendragon line lives on. The appearance of that sword is the only proof we need."

The last time he made the attempt to take Earth, he almost succeeded in shrouding it in darkness, but one man changed all that.

"Find the Pendragon," he ordered. "Kill him. Bring him to our side. Make sure he will not be a threat."

"I have already spoken with someone who will do that," the only ally who Darkseid even bothered to mention by name, Vandal Savage, said. "She shares no love for her brother's line."

"I've always found Morgen Le Feye to be a great ally," Darkseid approved.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Wait, wait," Dick said as the older man packed strange items. "We're running away from danger and into more danger?"

Elaine threw a small bag of ice at him. "My uncle thinks that whatever happened today, something good can come from it."

He placed the ice on the injured side of his head. "Chaos, destruction. Yeah. All good."

"You're only watching the surface," Her uncle said, finished packing. "People only see what they want to see. He'll be coming with us."

"Um, no, Uncle Lynn," Elaine argued which bristled him, for some reason. "He could get hurt."

"No he won't," he said, giving Dick a knowing look. "He'll handle whatever would be thrown at us. As I said, you only see what you want to see. Let's go."

_"At around 1:39 PM, a Michael Scott, 22, walked to the strange object to pull it from the stone, and he was not successful. As he walked away, he clutched his chest and collapsed. He passed away enroute to the hospital."_

Uncle Lynn stopped what he was doing long enough to shake his head, and he began to mutter under his breath. His language was something that not even Dick could understand. The old man took back his walking stick, which began to glow in the strange light, and he led them out of the building in which he lived.

Someone was waiting for them outside their house, and he was not the person who pursued them. Strangely enough, the stranger and Uncle Lynn recognized each other if the glares were of any indication. Dick knew him by reputation. Bruce did speak about him on occasion, and the man would help them on any strange cases within Gotham City. Jason Blood.

"Well, Old Man," he said in a greeting that spoke volumes. "I knew that you would be involved in all this. Somehow."

"Then you'll remember why I must," Uncle Lynn said. His voice growing in strength and timbre. "Or will you do what you did before?"

Jason snorted. "I'm helping. Whether you like it or not."

* * *

It happened only hours after the Total Tremor. Strange bat like creatures began to attack different cities. Both the Team and the Justice League were working hard to keep them back. No one had any idea what those creatures even were, and they were not even sure if they were in connection with the massive earth quake. The bat like creatures were only the beginning.

People all over the world were acting strangely. They began to hate the very people who swore to protect them. Riots broke out in the different cities that were known to house some of the greater known heroes. Nothing could be done to curb that hate, that hopelessness.

"Where are our heroes?" G. Gordon Godfrey asked his viewers. "Did they just vanish when we need them the most? When they first appeared, they promised us that they would stand between us and anything that could harm us. Yet here we are. Dealing with the aftermath of a massive earthquake and more aliens attacking us. What are we to do?"

With each broadcast, Gordon created more people who began to hate their greatest heroes. With each passing day, it began to appear that their world was changing and not for the better. Whole cities were razed or taken by the strange beings who controlled the bat like creatures. There were hardly any survivors for those taken cities.

* * *

"This wasn't part of the deal," Lex Luthor, member of the Light, and the most notable adversary of Superman. He watched as another United States city fell to the spreading darkness of the Light's ally.

It was Vandal Savage who disagreed. "This works. This fits our plan. The unworthy will die, and the strong shall survive."

The other members of the Light began to feel a little uneasy. The only person who really knew their current partner was Vandal Savage, and as that man's name would suggest, he was. . .savage. He would do anything to achieve his ends. There was no telling what would happen before he would consider his plan a success.

* * *

"Morgen will come after you," Jason was saying to Uncle Lynn as they made their way out of the devastated Bludhaven. "She will follow you when you search for him."

"I don't need to find him," Uncle Lynn replied.

"Don't need. . .have you gone mad?"

Uncle Lynn said nothing in his defense. He never needed to. He was right, and he knew what he was doing.

Dick was walking next to Elaine, and they were trying to listen to what Jason and Uncle Lynn were arguing about. Their argument brought far more questions than it did answers.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "I wish. He's been acting strangely all week. Then this morning I get the weirdest call."

"What did he say?"

Elaine looked at her uncle then back at him. "He mentioned something about getting us out of the Dark Ages."

He was going to say something to that, but he could hear chanting from behind them, and the chants were against the Justice League, denouncing them as heroes and claiming them to be the root of the problems they were all facing.

"I guess he wasn't too far off," Dick remarked.

* * *

"Nightwing is looking into the strange object in England," Batman told the few members of the Justice League.

"That is far too dangerous," Diana remarked. "You heard what happened to the young man who last touched it."

"He knows enough not to do something like that," Batman defended his first protege.

"The darkness will come, and there is very little we can do to stop it," Dr. Fate proclaimed much to the horror and disgust of those few League members. "The one who can pull the sword will lead the world out of the Darkness."

* * *

A woman in purple robes watched the scene before her with a certain amount of amusement. Her "love" was leading her right to her enemy. After she had him betray his king for her, she kept a close eye on him over the long years.

"Mother," her son called from behind her. "The sword has appeared. It's mine!"

"No, my son," she, Morgen Le Feye, said to her son. "No it's not, but we can stop the person it does belong to." She called her most trusted of soldiers to her. "Kill the young ones. They're not important."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Around them, the world had changed so much during that day. The Total Tremor had done a lot of damage to the buildings, and the different attacks from who knows where had taken their toll. The city limits of Bludhaven were completely unrecognizable.

Dick felt a pang of guilt as he left the city he protected from the moment he became Nightwing. The two older men were arguing about how to get to England as they slowly moved onward.

"How long have you lived with your uncle?" He asked her.

They had one class together, but he barely even knew her. She mainly kept to herself, avoiding everyone she would meet.

"Ever since I could remember," she answered. "I barely even remember my parents."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. He's my godfather," she said, but the way she reacted it was like she might have said too much.

It was Jason Blood who stopped in his tracks, eyeing the ground and sky around them.

"We're not alone," he said for the other three to hear. "Her soldiers."

Strange almost snake like creatures melted out of the shadows. Lynn brandished his beat-up walking stick.

"Gone, gone the form of man; release the demon Entrigan!" Jason said, and in a flash of fire, he transformed into a strange apparition that would shoot fire from his hands.

"Is it just me," Elaine said, her eyes growing wide as she backed away. "Or did he just turn into a demon?"

"He turned into a demon," Dick replied. "Now get traught."

She pulled out two sai and helped move the creatures away from them.

"Elaine!" Lynn bellowed, light appeared from his walking stick. "Go! Do not involve yourself!"

She snorted and scowled, but she did listen, ducking and avoiding capture with a certain amount of skill that impressed even Dick. He knocked the creatures out of her way, and the fire turned them back into the shadows they appeared as.

"Enough of this," Lynn said in a voice that was much different from the quiet older man's.

He seemed to have changed when they left Bludhaven. Lynn was much taller, and his grey hair had actually turned snow white. The very air around him buzzed with his power, and he understood where the grudging respect that Jason had for him. His walking stick had changed as well, getting a more staff look and gnarly looking.

Lynn found a rock with a strange carving on its face and gestured for the three of them to gather around it. He hit his slowly changing walking stick on the rock, and blue light surrounded them.

* * *

"They have failed?!" Morgen demanded. "No matter. I'm far more powerful here. They will not be as lucky next time. Guard Excalibur and never let either one of the younger ones near it. We'll wait for him."

* * *

Lex Luthor watched as the chaos spread across the city. Buildings burned. People were actually rioting. Metropolis was falling. He made an impatient sound as he turned from his window.

"What's the point of ruling the world if it slowly burns away?" He asked the woman known as Mercy. "I never agreed with the choice of our new ally."

Strange bat-like creatures flew down from the dark spot in the sky, raining down fire or scooping up people before dropping them to the ground. As a part of the UN, he knew that there were very similar events all around the world, and they were all demanding one thing: help. The Justice League barely could stem the destructive tide.

"Another person died when they touched that sword," Mercy told him after awhile.

Lex rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew that their new ally was deeply bothered by the sword that appeared in England, and he learned that if it was held by the right person, their ally could be defeated.

No one has yet succeeded in pulling the sword from the stone. And the world still burned.

* * *

M'Gann was clutching her head and curled into a ball. The thoughts of the people they worked to help were making her sick. Some readily accepted their help, but a large number of them strongly opposed their actions. They almost attacked some of the smaller team members, causing a couple of them to fall back and protect them.

"They're so hopeless," she said almost brokenly. "Hopeless."

Artemis was sitting next to the young Martian and comforted her as best she could.

"Have you heard from Nightwing yet?" She asked Robin.

"I know he survived the Total Tremor, but that's it," he answered, shaking his head. "And, I do know that Batman has him on a mission. Beyond that. . ."

Kaldur was staring off into space. "When I wore the Helmet, I saw vague shadows of what will happen." He gestured around him. "This was one of them."

"Is there anything to stop this?" Artemis braved herself to ask.

"A bear was able to."

It was Beast Boy who turned himself into a bear. "Well, I can take care of this."

Kaldur shook his head. "No. A special bear. . .symbolic of someone. I think it would be someone who can pull that sword in England."

M'Gann sat up and let go of her head. "And bring us out of the Dark Ages. . .Kaldur, you're talking about King Arthur."

"Maybe. . ." He did not sound too convinced. "Back at home, we always pay heed to the old stories. Chances are they were true."

"Well. . .if the sword's real," Artemis commented. "Maybe the king is too. It's all we have to go on."

* * *

When the lights began to fade, Elaine saw that they were standing in the middle of Stonehenge.

"How typical," she muttered to herself.

"I'll distract Morgen," Jason told her uncle. "You'll find a way to get to the sword."

"She was once my pupil," he said. "I know her. She'll be guarding the sword, waiting for us. Unless. . ."

Jason was still with them, even though her uncle did not trust him at all. Elaine had to dig through some of her oldest childhood memories of him telling her old stories. For the longest time, her uncle would tell her about King Arthur in such a way that would have made one think he knew the man, but that could not be possible.

The end of King Arthur's story was always the same. One of his most trusted of nights betrayed his king and let Morgen into the castle, and Camelot fell. A knight that Merlin cursed for his treachery. The animosity between her uncle and Jason had that sort of feeling to it. Betrayal mixed with hurt and anger.

"They're going to keep at it, aren't they?" Dick asked her.

"I guess," she said.

Elaine saw him fight before they came to England, and she was willing to admit that she misjudged him which would happen to the best of people. There was one thing, though. Even she could tell that he was holding back. A lot.

She looked around her, and even England was not spared from the strange onslaught by creatures found only in a person's darkest nightmares. For some reason, everything that was happening really sickened her, and she really needed to think about something else.

Dick must have picked up on that. He started talking, and at first, it was completely pointless stuff. As they went on, their conversation grew top stuff of more substance. He helped keep her mind off of how the land was being treated, and it did help wile away the time. She found that if she would let anyone into her life, Dick was not too bad.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"We're in England," Dick reported to his old teacher. "Jason Blood is helping as far as we know, and her uncle is either leading us to the sword to pull it or to hide it."

"Keep going," Batman replied after processing the information. "Keep an eye on them both. Jason Blood could still be working with Morgen Le Feye, and who knows the other's true motives."

"My uncle won't betray us," Elaine remarked.

"What do you know about your uncle?" Dick asked. Earlier he went digging for some information on Elaine for some reason.

"He pretty much raised me," she said.

"Really?" He said, squinting back at her. "Not your whole life, Elaine. Have you ever wondered how your parents died?"

She flinched. "An accident."

"You sure about that?" He asked. He showed her the article he found, and she read it, growing very pale. "There was a fire, and investigators thought you were kidnapped. Both cases went cold. Very cold. He thought your uncle was involved. Somehow."

* * *

It was not until the strange creatures began to attack the underwater realm of Atlantis did one of the Light began to reconsider his choice in allies. The man who secretly went as Ocean Master watched as his city was crumbled to the ground. The city that he wished to claim as his own, one day.

As always, Vandal Savage felt that all was going according to plan. The weak would be done in through the attacks of the legions of their ally's armies. The Light was promised the world, but there might not be a world if their ally keeps working.

"Ocean Master," the voice of one the Light broke his musing silence. "It would seem that our current arrangements are becoming rather problematic." He made a sound of agreement. "Whatever is happening in England, Batman's stench is all over it. An agent of mine has spotted one of his students."

"I've heard that our ally has dealt with that problem," the man called Ocean Master replied.

"Of course," the other man agreed. "Looks like we should check things out for ourselves. Make sure things turn out right."

"I'll send some of my trusted men to keep an eye on Morgen."

* * *

Elaine was playing with her mother, one night. They were outside as the sun was beginning to set, and their strange, new neighbor was watching them rather intently.

"Who is that?" Her mother asked her father.

He came outside and began to shake. Her father had the two of them go back into the house, and her mother was frantically packing.

"He's back," she heard her father say on the phone to her uncle. "And he knows we're here."

Elaine remembered hearing a strange and almost rhythmic chanting, and their front door was blown apart. A monster stood in the doorway, and she began to scream in fear at what she was seeing. He did not speak, but they knew that he was there for them.

The creature shot fire from his hands, and the flames engulfed her home.

"Ellie!" Her mother coughed at her.

"No!" She heard from outside. It was her uncle.

Someone led her out the door and into his arms. The smoke made her blind and cough, and she clung to him. For some reason, she started crying at that moment. It was like she instinctively knew that she was all alone in the world.

The creature melted back into a man. He carried himself like a warrior, but it would be the strange white streak in his otherwise red hair that she would remember.

* * *

Aquaman came to the League meeting with the strangest of news. Strange things were happening around his realm not too long after it was attacked. Ocean Master's people hung around the water near England, but they did nothing. He told his fellow teammates before going back to his realm.

It was Superman's news that was equally troubling. Lex Luthor did seem deeply bothered by the strange creatures attacking around the world. Oddly enough, he helped fund rescue efforts and aided in the evacuation in Metropolis. All deeds were anonymous, of course.

"It would seem that the Light is having problems with what's happening," Batman said more to himself.

"Why would they? This is what they wanted, isn't it?" Black Canary asked. She was a ghost of her former self. The past few days really did take their toll on her. Being the chairman of the League at that particular time was difficult work.

"Some of them want to rule, and they thought that by joining the Light, they would get that," Batman answered. "With the world being destroyed, there would be nothing left for them, even if they do succeed."

"What are you planning?"

"I'm not planning. Not yet. Right now, I'm waiting."

Black Canary was going to yell at him for that, but the news came on. It was a strangely grainy image of a battle barely outside of Bludhaven. A man turned into a demon and threw fire from his hands. An older man shot blue energy. Two younger people were fighting the creatures. A redhead young woman who used her short swords with a certain amount of skill and a young man with short black hair who the two League members recognized at once, and they could tell that Nightwing was holding himself back in his civilian identity. The four of them vanished in a cloud of mist.

"Where were the so-called Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" G. Gordon Godfrey's voice broke the tension filled silence after that last clip. "Our world is decaying fast, and they can't even fight these. . .demons. It's high time we went with someone else. There are a group of people in this world who can stop this widespread destruction and rebuild our world. . .should we choose to accept them. Of course, we could stick with the Justice League, even when they don't have any idea how to stop this onslaught." There were clips of different Justice League members who could not stem the tide of the strange beasts. "All we have to do is step into the Light."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Elaine was staring off into space as they walked through what should have been an almost picturesque English countryside. The sky was almost blood red, and the demon-like creatures flew around in the distance.

Every once in awhile, Dick noticed that she would wear a distrustful look on her face. Her whole world had shattered all around her in a few short hours. The only family she could ever remember may have killed her parents and kidnapped her. For what, who could ever guess? It would take her a long time to get used to what her life had become.

Almost unconsciously he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she stiffened a little before allowing him to be close to her. The whole walk, she kept a close eye on the two older men, each movement never going unnoticed by the young woman.

"Where have you learned to fight like that?" He asked her, remembering what she did back in Bludhaven.

"An old family friend," she answered, wincing a little. "She knew my mother, at least. She would always visit us, when I was younger before. . .and she would always help me and. . .my uncle whenever we moved."

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said, realizing that he felt a little guilty for telling her what he found. "I thought that you had the right to know."

She looked at him. There was no disgust, or apathy. Elaine understood. Somehow.

"I think you only have half of the story," she said. "Like he said earlier, we only see what we want to see."

At the moment when Jason looked at the two of them, Dick had the feeling that maybe they did not need his extra help.

* * *

She was getting coffee when what became known as the Total Tremor hit. For several years, she could have felt its coming with a certain amount of anticipation. It was something she lived through hundreds of years ago, and the times were right again.

Deep in her blood, she could feel the Dreaded Darkness coming back to Earth in its quest to claim the world as his own.

The woman concentrated hard, and that was when the Sword in the Stone appeared. That should keep them distracted long enough for her to find the hidden bloodline and her oldest of allies.

She had been given many names during her many walks on Earth, but the King Maker was always one she would wear with pride. That name was earned when she trained the one person who could fight off that Darkness, and by those actions, the world remained free.

People would see her as the Lady of the Lake, the woman who gave the Bear Excalibur, and the one who took the dying king to Avalon where from he would return when the world needed him most. How close they were to the truth and yet how wrong they were. Since then, people the world over believed that King Arthur was healed, even when there was no hope for him to survive, but in fact she hid his bloodline. Only the blood of the Pendragon line could ever be trusted with Excalibur.

". . .All we have to do is step into the Light," the voice of G. Gordon Godfrey brought her back to the present.

She did a double take. That man was used by the Darkness to sow fear, mistrust, and to crush the hopes of any world that the Darkness took a liking to in order to make conquest easier.

"The Light has the means to save us all," a member of Darkseid's Elite she knew to be Glorious Godfrey said. "All of us. The Justice League can barely save themselves. During the Reach invasion, if it had not been for the Light's intervention, your precious Justice League would not have been able to save us."

The woman who possessed many names went to a single and unadorned case and opened it. Inside was the sword of which legends were made. It was a simple sword, but the power that came from it could have fooled a lesser being into thinking it was far fancier than it really was. She closed the case once more and gathered the mists around her. It was time to find her ally and present to the Pendragon the true inheritance. Even if it meant fighting her way towards them.

* * *

There was something about the followers of two of the Light members that seemed. . .off. Kaldur was watching some of Ocean Master's men as they moved around the square where the strange sword was being kept. They were not attacking, only watching, and they completely ignored the people moving past them.

A woman who kept her face hidden by a golden mask was walking around the Sword, probably trying to figure out how to remove it from the stone. A young boy kept pulling at the arm of her robes, demanding she do something about the sword. Clearly, the kid wanted it, badly.

"We are still dealing with the problem of my brother's blood line," the woman said to the kid as calmly as any mother would to her child. "Jason and Entrigan will have it solved."

* * *

Both Elaine and Dick were far behind her uncle and Jason. Her uncle would turn around to make sure she was okay, and she could have sworn that he seemed to understand their action. HIs reaction when he met Jason back at Bludhaven made more sense after she remembered what happened to her parents and how Jason was involved.

She chose not to talk to Dick as they walked on. It was probably better that way, or so she told herself. There were times when her uncle would get very nervous, and the two of them would move very suddenly. It was way easier to not make friends, and yet, in spite of what was happening around her and his thinly veiled accusations of her uncle, she could, someday, see Dick as a friend.

The almost rhythmic chanting came from Jason, and he turned back into the demon she remembered from her deepest and darkest of nightmares.

Her uncle took out his staff and blocked the demon from moving. "Go! Take her anywhere but here!"

Dick grabbed her arm, and the two of them made a run for it.

"Wait. . .whoah," she said, trying to pull herself free, but strange enough, he was a lot stronger than he looked. "Where are we going?"

"I'm calling in some help," he said almost evasively. "Trust me. If we have to go all the way to London, we'll need a ride and some back up."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Zatanna said to stop her," M'Gann argued with Dick when he called the Team for help.

"I have a feeling that she could help us with this," he said, knowing that his old teammates trusted his feelings.

"Conner and Kaldur will be over there," she finally said.

Elaine was holding her swords. Her eyes darted around their surroundings. She barely spoke since they left her uncle fighting Jason Blood. Dick sat next to her, about to wrap his arm around her shoulders, but she shrugged him away.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"The whole world's falling apart," she answered, still looking around their hideout, but they went back at him. "and I lost the only family I have."

"Believe it or not," he said. "I understand better than you know."

She actually did look at him then. "You do, don't you?" The grip tightened around her sword. "I just. . .I should have done more to help him."

"Ellie, Ellie," he said. "He wanted to keep you safe. I'm sorry, but he did not want you to be in danger."

Dick knew that thinking of all that could have been done to stop it was never the way a person should live. It made the first few months with Bruce a living Hell. He kept thinking back to the night he lost his parents. If he spoke to them before the show then maybe. . .

"Quit beating yourself up over this," Dick told her. "We'll get to London, and this will end."

* * *

"Artemis, Robin, and Kid Flash were zetaed to London," Kaldur explained. "They are keeping an eye on the sword, but they weren't the only ones."

They were moving around the ruined farm, knowing that it was the location that Nightwing had given them when he had contacted M'Gann at the Watchtower. The two heroes heard a twig snap, and they stopped moving, ready for any attack.

A young woman with red hair crept to them. Two swords were in her hands, and she also readied herself for a fight. It was then when Nightwing appeared. No mask, but he did wear those sunglasses he used to wear all the time. He rested a calming hand on her arm.

"They're here to help us," he told her.

She lowered her weapons. "Could've warned me."

* * *

Artemis watched an older man with red hair limp to a woman robed in green. He struggled to kneel before her.

"The Pendragon has eluded me again, my love," Artemis could read his lips.

"That was the one thing you could not fail," the woman said. "And yet time and time again, my brother's pathetic and weak bloodline managed to stop you at every turn." She gestured around her. "You disgust me. Out of my sight!"

"Things just got interesting," Artemis commented.

Jason Blood limped away, never once looking back at the woman he called his love.

"Nightwing has this under control," Robin said with great faith in his predecessor. "Hopefully."

* * *

Elaine was looking up at the sky, barely hearing the conversation between Dick and his two interesting friends. Even without getting a good look at them, she knew that there was more to them than met the eye with those two.

"I figured as much," she heard Dick say. "Her uncle and whoever's been chasing us all but told me."

We would need to keep an eye on her," the one called Kaldur said.

"I can see her from right here," the one called Conner said.

Being talked about was not something she liked to deal with, but they only seemed to care about her well being. Of course, they only knew that she could stop everything that was happening. Somehow she was their key for survival. Typical.

* * *

All over the world, people were rioting. They hated their superheroes, blaming them for everything that had happened. They only spoke of the damage and death that were caused during those epic hero battles. They blamed them for the sudden interest that aliens held for Earth.

The words of G. Gordon Godfrey could be heard all over. Their lives could be for the better if they "stepped into the Light." The UN gathered to speak about that possibility. Lex Luthor was definitely for that, and he managed to convince many of the members.

There was always that nagging sense that there was more to joining the Light than Godfrey or Luthor were willing to admit. Many of the UN members were still suspicious.

* * *

He stood, basking over his world and the world that would be his. As always, his meeting with Vandal Savage left a bitter taste in his mouth. The man even felt that they could be equals, and making deals and partnerships were never his thing.

That was why he would pretend to hand the world over to the Light, but really he was only acting to the get the world for his own. It meant more followers for him. There was one problem.

Centuries ago, he tried to take the world for himself, there was a king who managed to drive him and his great armies away, keeping the world from him. Unfortunately, that king fathered a child, a girl, and though a girl could not inherit her father's throne at that time, she created a bloodline that could stop him. The sword that appeared was what made the case. That child was still alive and far too close to his birthright for Darkseid's liking.

Vandal Savage had his uses after all.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

They made their way to London on foot, traveling during the day to avoid looters and the strange creatures that around in the sky.

Strangely, Elaine never once spoke with any of them, even though she talked with Dick the days before. She ignored them. Mainly, she ignored Dick which did not go unnoticed by the vigilante, very little did, and for some reason, her silence bothered him. He did grow fond of her chattering. Dick tried to get her to talk, but she only gave him one syllable words. It really was not helping him.

"What's wrong?" He finally asked her, hoping Conner and Kaldur were too busy scanning the area around them to even pay attention to what he was saying.

"Oh," she said. "Nothing."

"No, not nothing."

She eyed him, trying to judge the right answer. "I'd rather not say."

Dick narrowed his eyes, choosing to accept what she told him, but he kept a close eye on her. He noted every gesture and look she gave him. He realized something there, and her silence began to make more sense. Elaine lost all the people she cared about, and she apparently did not want it to happen again.

* * *

Lex Luthor spoke quietly with Mercy. He asked her to listen in on many of the Light members from the moment it formed.

"It's not really about any of the Light," she said. "Your partner. . .he will turn on you."

"It makes sense," Lex replied. "We are planning the same thing."

"Much sooner than you think," she told him. "In fact, he's working on it right now."

They looked out the window as the strange creatures known as Parademons flew across the sky. Many of them began to build strange towers, possibly all across the world. He knew what they meant.

"Vandal Savage is an idiot," Lex said far too calmly. "This partnership. . ." He could not finish it. He was that mad.

"Who's the kid they're worried about?" Mercy asked him. "Maybe. . .maybe this kid will stop this?"

* * *

He watched their every movement in the countryside of that European country. It was empty, and one could have argue that the Total Tremor hit that country harder than all the others.

The people he followed did not even know he was there which was not too surprising as he was trained by the best. There was only one person he was more interested in: the one called Nightwing. The two of them knew each other during his years as someone else and before his death. They got along during that short period of time, but at that point, he was more interested in what he was doing in England.

The girl. That was it. Three founding members of the Team sent to keep an eye on an almost ordinary college-age girl. He watched the girl walk, and even from that distance, he could tell that she was trained to fight for most of her life. That was not what really interested him. Nightwing would keep close to her, nothing new for him as the girl did have red hair, but he was trained to look at the finer details of things. Nightwing was too kind to her. Too gentle.

The Red Hood had to smirk at that. Leave it to him to make sure a pretty young woman be kept safe during all that was happening.

He still followed them. The Red Hood was supposed to be dead, so he really had nothing better to do.

* * *

Elaine stared at the changed skyline of London. She vaguely remembered the from her early childhood. It was the last home where she had her parents. the attack of the creatures and the Total Tremor really did change things, almost falling apart.

There was a strange alien-looking tower being constructed just on the outskirts of the old city. More of those creatures flew over her, and Dick practically tackled her to the ground to keep them from even seeing her.

"Ow!" She whispered at him before she started to swear.

"Quiet!" He hissed, eyes scanning around them.

The creatures passed overhead, never even noticing the two of them. Dick did not get up, but he met her eyes. They were almost tender.

Elaine tried to ignore the butterflies she was feeling. They're gone. Get off. You weigh a ton!"

The look in his eyes disappeared, much to her relief, she was not ready to deal with that.

"You wound me," he said, but he did get off of her.

"I was lying on a rock," she replied, rubbing the sore spot on her back. "You weren't helping."

He helped her to her feet, but he was paying close attention to the tower that was being constructed. Dick began to mess with something on his wrist, and he started talking into it, requesting to whoever was on the other end to take a look at it and find a way to destroy it. His two friends agreed to stay behind and check out the tower as few others would meet them in London.

"Tomorrow," Dick told her quietly. "We'll see how this will end."

* * *

Black Canary was given a message that unsettled her to say the least. Around the world different towers were being constructed, and word on them was that they were operational. They could blow holes into Earth's surface and fill the atmosphere with something like hellfire. The Justice League gathered together to plan a way to destroy each of them, but they came up with nothing. The message should have come as a relief.

"Lex Luthor wants to meet with us," she told the incredulous League. "He claims he knows how to stop this from happening."

* * *

They crept through the once busy streets of London. Her citizens hid in their homes, if they were still standing, hoping and praying that their heroes would pull through and save the world. Godfrey's sermonizing played in the background, and he would say that the Light would solve all of their problems.

"The UN convened in a secret location," a woman reporter could be heard saying. "They met to discuss giving power to this group known as the Light. . ."

Dick listened to it all with a frown, Elaine noticed. Clearly, despite everything that everything that was happening, that little bit of information bothered him, even though he tried to hide it.

He stopped walking, stopping her from moving forward. He looked behind them, eyes narrowing as he tried to make out who was following them.

"Another one of your friends?" She asked in a whisper.

"They're already here," he answered, still looking back at the stranger. "I don't think so."

"Let me. . ." she tried to say, holding her swords.

"No." His tone was final, and he had her wrist.

Dick was looking at her at that point. There was that look again. More earnest. More worried. More. . .tender? That same look from earlier.

Elaine felt that same feeling from earlier. "My whole life was for this. . .uncle trained. . ."

Dick leaned toward her, one gentle hand on her neck, and he started to kiss her. She was startled at first, but she leaned into him, kissing him back. He pulled away slightly and grinned down at her. Elaine's two swords were missing.

"Not. . .fair. . ." she was still breathless.

They were still close, but she could feel someone watching them.

"You always had a way with the women, Goldie," a voice said from behind them.

A voice that Dick that made stiffen and snap his head around and let go of Elaine.

"Jason?"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Darkseid watched his plan fall into place. the people of Earth were slowly becoming disillusioned with their protectors, and his towers were being built, creating a world that would be his own. Glorious Godfrey worked to make them his mindless worshippers, but it was the group he "worked with" who did most of his work. At least, at first. Lately though, he was enjoying the slowly fracturing of that once close group.

One member was betraying them by helping their enemies try to destroy the towers. Another, but disgraced member chose to guard his brother's realms and protect his family. He obviously realized that blood was thicker than water, regretting breaking their bonds of brotherhood. The rest saw through the partnership to what it really was, and they were slowly growing uneasy with each attack, each passing day. Vandal Savage was blind to it all, and he still believed that they were in it together, far more close knit than their enemies.

What a moron.

"Any word from Morgen?" He asked Vandal Savage.

"Very little," he admitted. "She plans to wait near the sword for the brat."

Darkseid kept a cool outside, but inside he was worrying, remembering what happened the last time he tried to take Earth only to be beaten back by the brat's very legendary ancestor. It must not happen this time.

"Tell her," Darkseid said in a chilling voice. "Their lives are forfeit if they fail me."

* * *

Morgen felt weak, almost light headed. She was dizzy to the point that she needed to sit down.

"Mother?" Mordred asked her.

"My child," she said. "You need to be strong for me."

"Mother?" His voice was full of fear.

"No, my son," she said, calming him down. "One of my more powerful spells have been broken. I just need to rest."

Her most loyal slave was out of her control. Damn Merlin.

* * *

"Jason?" Dick asked in shock.

"Miss me, Goldie?" The tragic Robin asked, smirking.

"How. . .?" He asked, still cannot find the words.

"Ras felt bad," he answered. "Revived me."

Elaine was staring at the two of them, clearly confused over what was happening, but she kept quiet. Dick noticed the look in his old friend's eyes, and he kept her behind him protectively. Jason only laughed, a chilling sound.

"I'm only here to ask you one question, Goldie," he said. "How did he react when I died?"

"Badly," Dick answered, still standing between Jason and a struggling Elaine. "He became dangerous for a little while there, and he became withdrawn."

Jason almost seemed to accept that. Almost. "I didn't stop him from replacing me." That was more of a hiss.

"A couple years, and he only came along after he convinced him to join," Dick explained as vaguely as possible. "He still has your old uniform as a memorial."

Jason calmed down, but he still had that light in his eyes. Not madness. Anger.

"You're going to that sword, right?" Jason asked, but he already knew the answer if he had been following them. "Because if you are, it's heavily guarded."

"Some of the Team are also keeping an eye on it," Dick said.

"Of course," Jason agreed. "You wouldn't do any less, but you do realize that anyone who touches that sword ends up dying. Five already died."

Dick felt anger. Her uncle was sending them there, never once even bothering to mention that danger.

"Always siding with a manipulative -" Elaine punched Jason, and he held his nose which started to bleed.

"You don't know my uncle!" She told him. "You don't have the right to talk about him like that."

Dick tried to calm her down, glad he took her swords away earlier, and Elaine was starting to worry about what Jason had told them. Dick watched the one-time Robin he thought was dead walk away. Despite the way he broke the news, he at least cared enough to let them know. Depending on how long he had followed them, he would have noticed the way he was towards her.

"He would've told me," Elaine said. "He would've told me."

* * *

They were so close to the sword, and they could practically see it stuck in the pavement. Dick pulled her into an abandoned building for the night. Early the next morning, their dash to the sword would pay off. They needed to believe that they would succeed. The alternative was unthinkable.

Elaine sat against the wall, staring at the other, and Dick sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on his.

"This sucks," she said. "I don't know if I should even try."

Dick shook his head. "Your uncle really loved you. He would never have told to get it if he thought you could die."

She lifted her head to look at him. "I know that, but. . .I guess I'm not sure if it would even work."

He hugged her to comfort her. "The way he said it, this worked before."

They stayed like that for awhile, enjoying how close they were. He gently pulled her head back and leaned forward to kiss her deeply. Elaine wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his around her waist, pulling her even closer. Dick mouthed down her neck before he met her lips. Elaine pulled away and looked into his eyes. A pain of seeing their whole world falling apart, but there was also hope.

* * *

Artemis kept an eye on the people around the sword, waiting for the signal from Nightwing as he moved into the square with a young woman with red hair. a small hand signal, and she shot two of her special arrows at some of the bigger guards. Bart took out the rest.

The young woman ran to the sword, even though Dick moved to hold her back. A boy waved his hand, tripping the young woman while he laughed at her.

* * *

Elaine could not move. The sword was right there, practically within her reach. That boy was laughing at her.

"No one with your blood can even touch Excalibur," he was saying. "It's mine."

Elaine began to laugh. He sounded so ridiculous. "Really? Why don't you take it now?"

"Stop talking!" The boy yelled, kicking her in the side. "Mother was worrying about you. I don't see why. You're a girl."

"What? How is that so important?"

"You can't be king," the boy practically sneered at her.

"I don't want to be king!" Elaine was struggling to move. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dick struggling, too.

"Whoever can pull that sword would be king."

"Mordred," a woman's voice admonished, though it was a little weak. "Don't play with your lesser family."

The woman wore purple and had a golden mask that covered her face. Though she tried to hold herself up like she was of royal blood, her shoulders slumped forward a little bit and each of her steps were timid and small.

"I cannot believe that Merlin guarded my brother's line all these years, and I worked so hard to discredit your ultimate grandmother."

Elaine remembered all the stories her uncle used to tell her about King Arthur and his knights. One story, this one he told in anger, had a jealous enchantress telling lies about his queen and most trusted of knights and closest friend, and that her child was not Arthur's.

"But the king knew," he would finish. "He asked that the lies would always be told, so his daughter would be safe."

That story always ended with her uncle saying that Merlin spent the rest of his days guarding the king's daughter and all her children.

"For when Britain needed him most," Elaine said, speaking in the same manner as the woman. "The Once and Future King would return."

Dick threw two small objects at the boy, distracting him enough for Elaine to scramble to her feet. She grabbed the sword and pulled.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

She was in London. It changed a lot since she was last there, and the Pendragon was struggling towards the sword.

A girl? No! That cannot be right. The Pendragon was to be king, and that girl had no right to be the Pendragon. The Lady looked around the world. Her eyes were the sharpest in the world. She saw towers, and she almost seemed like she was about to give up. The world was falling apart, and the woman who had many names lost the hope she possessed the last time this had happened.

The old case she kept close to her held the one thing she knew that could either both save the world and destroy it. It was Excalibur, as far as she knew, and she realized that she was not going to let that girl have it. The last time Darkseid came to Earth, King Arthur pulled his father's sword from the stone, and she gave him the legendary blade.

Not this time. The Lady gave the sword to Darkseid. It was better if he had it anyway. The moment she gave him the sword, her life had ended. It was sad really. The woman who had worked to to protect the world for so long, only thought she was doing what was best.

Little did any of them know, the sword she gave to him was not Excalibur at all. Merlin was one of the best. A thief when he was younger, he could switch out the sword in the Lady's case. Excalibur was the sword in the stone.

* * *

The League and the Team moved across the world to deal with the different towers. No one was too sure that Lex Luthor's plan was even going to work. Each tower was heavily guarded, but something strange happened. A dark stranger appeared, and he held a sword. For some reason, the sword looked like it was rusting.

A runner, unseen by everyone, watched it all. He could not speak with the heroes, his old friends, as they worked to destroy each tower.

"It does not matter," the dark stranger told them. "I have a hold over this world. Nothing you will do will change it."

The runner still observed. He ran around them, trying to get anyone's attention, but there was nothing he could do. He ran to England where he saw a young woman was working to move to the sword. She was struggling, but she always seemed to insult the boy holding her down. A weak and older woman stood over like she was really nothing.

He could hear music playing, and he slowed down, but he was still too fast for the rest of the world to see him. The music came from an older man plucking at an instrument. He had a long white beard, and an old and gnarled staff laid on the ground at his feet.

"The times we live in, my boy," he said. "Legends coming to life."

The young woman grabbed the sword, and she pulled it out of the stone, and the old man seemed very pleased with himself.

"I've been waiting for that for a very long time," he said. He picked up his staff, getting to his feet, and pointed it at him. The staff began to glow green. "You will slow down, Wallace West."

* * *

The woman yelled in outrage the moment Elaine held the sword.

"This can't be happening," she practically babbled. "This isn't right."

she held the sword, pointing it at them. It felt familiar, right. It was almost like she held the sword before.

"Times have changed," Elaine said, finally understanding her family just a little more.

The boy seemed angry and the woman rueful. She regained her strength, and her hands began to glow when she held them over her head. A yellow and red blur ran around her, spinning her around and making her lose her balance. Another blue appeared, a little taller and darker than the first, and it tied the woman up.

"You and me, kid," Elaine told him, lowering the sword a little bit. "Family time?"

The boy backed away from her, and she could not see how the boy Mordred could even be King Arthur's killer. Dick was behind her, but he was not even paying attention. He was watching the two strangers with a confused look. Almost in disbelief and shock.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

He was kind of paying attention, but he walked to the two strangers, still in shock.

"How?" He asked the older one.

The stranger shrugged. "That's a bit complicated. I'm trying to figure it out."

"The great and mighty Darkseid has something he needs to say to you all," Lex Luthor told everyone of the world. They could even hear that broadcast from where they were standing. They could tell that he did not like what he was doing.

"I came here to take your world, to protect each of you," the voice of Darkseid sounded. "To protect you from yourselves. There is someone in this world who wishes to destroy it all. Bring him to me, and I will challenge him for the good of this world."

* * *

Dick still spoke with Wally, and he felt his guilt slowly go away the longer they talked. Artemis ran at the two of them, and he wisely stepped out of her way. She and Wally were hugging like they never wanted to let go of each other.

"I should have learned," Vandal Savage said. "Never have someone else do your work for you."

He moved towards Elaine, and she did not move. Her hand only tightened around her sword.

"I'm not afraid of you," she told him.

"You don't have everything," he said.

Vandal Savage went to attack her, and Elaine jumped out of his way. The League was there, and the smirk almost melted off his face.

"I don't need knights," she said, walking away from him. "Maybe it would be better if you deal with them. More fun that way."

* * *

"You won't fight him," Dick said. "Alone."

Elaine crossed her arms. "Oh, really? Even if it means saving the world?"

He tried to grab the sword, but it was too heavy for him to even lift the dropped sword.

"He's practically a god," Dick said. "You could get seriously hurt." Or dead. . .

"I'm sorry, Dick," she said. "I've go to do this. For all of us."

Elaine grabbed her sword, about to walk away, but Dick grabbed her arm. She made an impatient sound, but the look he gave her kept her quiet.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't get caught up in the mission," he told her. "I won't lose you."

"It's not your decision to make," Elaine said. "If I don't fight him, you'll still lose me."

Dick pulled her to him, and she stiffened, pulling away from him. She looked horrible.

"I. . .have to. . ." she said before walking away. Elaine did not even look back at him.

"Wow, Dick," Wally remarked. "That's a first."

* * *

Elaine dug through the ruins of her old home. She found her parents' room and looked for the spot her father and uncle would keep something pretty important. An old box. She took off the necklace her mother gave her before she ran off with her father. An old key. She unlocked the old box the old box and pulled out an even older scabbard. One that went went with her sword.

She remembered it from those stories she was told. King Arthur's scabbard that healed his wounds as long as he had it on him. Her parents were still looking out for her, even after all these years. She almost smiled to herself.

* * *

It was not too difficult for her to even find one of his followers. The guy was acting like he owned the place, but when he saw her, he practically fainted. Must have been low level.

He led her to his master, Darkseid. The dark god was practically gloating when he saw her.

"You defeat will be absolute," he said. "The Pendragon will be no more."

The whole world saw their fight. The young woman who bravely stared him down practically turned into someone almost legendary. Her wounds were healed from the scabbard, so she took any hit with little to no pain.

His sword was his undoing. It was rusting in his hands, and one right strike had it broken into many different pieces. She was pointing the sword at his face.

* * *

Wally was affected by his time trapped in the Speed Force. He saw things no one would have normally seen. A strange apparition was running around the the fight between Elaine and Darkseid, and the moment she broke his sword, it stopped right behind him, making the dark god flinch in fear.

The Dark Racer. Wally learned that it meant death for Darkseid's kind. How he knew that was beyond him, a product from his time in the Speed Force more likely. Darkseid was no more. His armies were gone, and the towers destroyed.

* * *

Dick found Elaine sitting crossed legged and running a hand over the blade of her sword. She smiled at him when she knew that he was near her. He sat next to her and pulled her a little closer to him as they watched the dawn of a new day.


End file.
